Biden stimulus may be Democrat-only despite cordial GOP meeting

President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats signaled they’re intent on a large pandemic relief bill, potentially without Republican support, even after a White House meeting with GOP senators on Monday that both sides described as productive.

While the 10 senators who participated described the meeting as “excellent” with “a very productive exchange of views,” in a joint statement, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden had emphasized that Congress had to act urgently and “boldly” and had pointed out many areas of disagreement with the Republicans.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer meanwhile introduced a budget resolution on Monday, the first step required to use a procedure called “budget reconciliation” that would allow much of Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus to pass the Senate with only 51 votes.

Biden and the 10 Republicans agreed to have their aides continue to negotiate a bipartisan relief plan. The legislation is the president’s top priority, and conceding to a GOP proposal that is one-third the size would be taken by his supporters on the left as a defeat.

While Biden “is hopeful” that what he calls the American Rescue Plan “can pass with bipartisan support, a reconciliation package is a path to achieve that end,” Psaki said. Using reconciliation, Democrats could potentially pass the bill in the Senate with only their 50 votes plus that of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Nonetheless, Senator Susan Collins of Maine called the two-hour White House meeting “useful” and that Biden had explained “in more depth” parts of his $1.9 trillion plan and the 10 Republicans outlined their counter-proposal. 

“I wouldn’t say that we came together on a package tonight. No one expected that,” she told reporters afterward. Yet the two sides agreed to have aides continue talks, she added.

“I was the first person to speak about a specific issue. I said, ‘Mr. President, I don’t want to seem rude,”’ Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, recounted in an interview. “He said, ‘Listen, I’ve been in all these negotiations. We’re going to have a difference of viewpoints on some things. We’re going to agree on some things. And when we disagree, we’re not being rude.”’

Cassidy added that Biden revealed additional details of his proposal, including a plan to use some of the $50 billion he’s requested for vaccinations to expand genomic testing, which can identify new and potentially more dangerous strains of the virus.

The president clearly charmed his guests. The Republicans were the first lawmakers known to have met with him in the White House since his Jan. 20 inauguration.